Dec 2, 2010

This recipe is from my cousin Kathy from Food For Every Season. Her grandma's recipe from Brazil which used coffee cups for measurements so Kat had to translate this recipe into real measurements, and I'm glad she did. Everything goes in the blender, now that's my kind of baking!

I love this cake. Every time I'm with her I ask her to make it for me. I even asked her to make this for my birthday. It's similar in texture to cornbread only sweeter and moister. You can have it for breakfast, or eat it for dessert.

In fact, as I am typing this right now, I wish I had a piece right now. Try it and let me know what you think. And yes, there is parmesan cheese in here, I was surprised seeing that myself but it works! I wouldn't change a thing!

Add milk, eggs, corn meal, sugar, flour, and butter to blender. Mix all ingredients until blended well (about 1 minute). Then add baking powder and grated Parmesan cheese and blend on lowest setting or pulse for a few seconds.

Pour mixture into baking pan and bake at 350° F for 50 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes before serving (I like it warm). Cut into 21 pieces.

98 comments
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Morning Gina! I love your recipes and ideas...I was wondering though - are you against subsituting sucralose for sugar? You always use real sugar and although I know doing a complete substitution sometimes won't work, but I've had fairly good success with subbing half. Also in a recipe like this with 4 while eggs, do you think it would affect it too much to use 2 or 3 and sub with extra whites? I know I sometimes take trying to make a recipe more healthy too far, but my intentions are good!LJ

Hi LJ- 4 eggs divided by 21 servings is minimal and the fact that this uses very little butter, I would not change it.

I also should have mentioned, once it bakes, it forms layers, heavier on the bottom, and the top layer is creamier, custard-y.

As far as sucralose, I worry about the long term dangers of artificial sweeteners, so I always prefer to use real sugar, honey or agave. But if you prefer to use Splenda, I'm sure it won't effect this cake.

I was with Kathy this weekend and when I saw she only used 2 tbsp of butter I knew I had to post this. Most cakes call for a lot more butter, and my challenge is always baking with less. Doesn't always work! So I was very excited about this!!

Oh and for the record, I am right there with you Gina on your philosophy on artificial sweeteners...and I don't like to use fat free products either( like mayo and salad dressing, because I KNOW they bump up the sugar to replace the fat in most processed fat free items, except for dairy stuff) , but sadly, as I looked though one of the new cookbooks from the new ww plan, it seems they have gone back to using them. Sad day for me.

I used Stevia (Truvia) which measures the same as sugar, is all natural like sugar, and bakes like sugar! I will let you know how this comes out...it should have a lot less points because there is 0 calories in stevia, which is an herb.I did notice the batter was a bit thin...and I had to do 2 batches in the blender as it all would not fit!

I used only 1 cup stevia and it was still a bit too sweet for me. I also thought there was a very slight aftertatse...almost like licorice? But the cake was very tasty and w/o the sugar calories i am willing to sacrifice...also for diabetics it is a great boon!

OH my this looks so good and you know what I am thinking my MIL gave me this little mini cupcake maker baker thing (Ha) for my Birthday.. HMM wonder if it will bake in it and then I'll have little mouthfuls of yum yums! THANK YOU so much for this one! :)

Gina I loved this post! As expected. I'm a huge fan of bolo de fuba and I know that it's totally unsavory to leave a link but I really think you'll like this bolo de fuba with goiabada that I made http://www.kitchencorners.com/2009/11/bolo-de-fuba-com-goiabada-brazilian.html

Just a tip if interested - I put this in the WW Recipe Builder and my points stayed the same at 3pts. When I went back to look for the difference I found that 1-1/2 cups of regular yellow cornmeal is 20pts, but if you use the Hodgson Mills Yellow Cornmeal it's 15pts and drops the points back down to 3pts. I'm a point junkie and every one counts :)

Splenda (or any sucrolose product) is just like stevia in that the "baker" version measures one for one and it is not an artificial sweetneer - it is a derivative of sugar and I do not find it has any aftertaste. That being said, a complete subsitution does not always work (some reciped just need the sugar!) but I often substitute at least half. The brown sugar blend is half reg brown sugar and half sucralose - another good option for cutting calories.

This looks amazing!! I really want to make this, only one problem my blender broke and I only have a magic bullet : ( I don't think all the ingredients would fit in the tall cup!! well i know what I'm asking for Christmas : )

Hi Gina, I put the baking powder and cheese in at the beginning by mistake and blended it and then I realizide what I did so I add another tbs.of baking powder at the end and my cake didn't come high like your pic , mine rose like an inch high was it supposed to be that low,what did I do wrong?

Wow! Served this last night on New Year's Eve with chili. There was none left by midnight. Everyone kept commenting on how moist it was. I'm not sure if it was suppose to happen but I got a thin custard like layer near the top that was to die for (the batter sat in the pan for about 10 minutes before it went in the oven while waiting for the preheat to finish). In full disclosure, I used whole instead of skim milk. We were out of skim.

I made this for Christmas morning brunch with soy milk, soy butter and no parm cheese (dairy allergy). I think I cooked it too long because I didn't understand the top should be custard-y, but it was still the biggest hit of the morning.

I am slowly cooking my way through your site....this is wonderful, and everything thus far has ben great. I made the cornmeal cake, and thought I did something wrong, because of the layers...your picture looks more cohesive...but I love it, and was relived after I read your comments. Thanks, and keep the recipe's coming!!

I was worried when the mixture was runny, but it turned out great! My custard-y layer seemed to end up at the bottom and the cake was delicious. I'm bringing it to work this morning because I'll eat it all if it's here!

Oh wow! There are few things that intrigue me enough to take a fork to it just after it comes out of the oven. This one did! It smelled so amazing while it was baking I just couldn't wait. The crispy top with the custardy layer underneath and the cornmeal cake underneath, I just can't say enough about this recipe! I will keep this in my recipe book and take this to potlucks! YUMMY!!!!

Gina I made this today and it came out great, but I wanted to tell you that I accidentally forgot the butter in the microwave after melting it, so it never went in! It still turned out great with no butter I am amazed. Thanks!

Hi Gina! I just found your site and I love it!! Thank you for so many recipes. I just started WW and this will help me greatly: it is way more appealing than the ww recipes and I am sure will help my hubby to cook on the points system too!

I am Brazilian and I absolutely LOVE this cake! However, mine gets creamier and the bottom is more of a crust. I checked my recipe and the differences are: 3 eggs, 3 1/2 cups of milk, 1 Tbsp of butter, 2 Tbsp of flour and 3 tbsp of parmesan (I usually use kirkland pecorino). I got my recipe from a dear friend 15 years ago, after devouring many of her mom's cakes. It sums up to 3 pts+ per serving, if you use no fat milk.

I can't wait to try your fluffier recipe, although I love eating all that cream when it comes hot out of the oven!

My boyfriend didn't let them rest at all -- out of the oven, straight into his mouth. They are DELICIOUS when very warm. The only problem is that they are 4 Points Plus and are pretty small for that "price." My bf and I made this after the "Peruvian Roasted Chicken with Ají Verde"...it was Latin American night, I guess! Both were great. Thank you!

I made this tonight, dairy free! It was SO yummy! Reminded me of the sweet corn at Chevy's Fresh Mex restaurant. I just substituted unsweetened plain almond milk for the nonfat milk and nondairy margarine for the unsalted butter.

Gina, I thought this morning was the perfect morning to try this. It is just awesome. I didn't change a thing. It was so easy, too. I can't wait until my girls and their families are here, again. This will be part of our breakfast for sure! Thank you so much for all the good recipes.

I just made this, and had a small piece (I am saving it for breakfast over the week!). It was delicious - so glad that left in the cheese as well. I'm going to make one of your muffin recipes next week. Thanks again for a great one!

I halved it and was able to fit it in a large ceramic pie plate. It was done in at least 35 minutes. I forgot to take my stone out if the oven and that caused it to brown really fast, so I ended up turning down the heat in the end. Very good though! Went great with a multi bean chili.

This is Great .. Thanks for sharing it.. I was born in Brazil and I just love all the goods they make but translating it to english ingredients is not easy specially because some of the products from there doesn't exist here LOL.. I always tought of this cake being very fatning( thank God Nothing is impossible ) PS.. If you can find a better way to make the Brazilian Carrot cake with the chocolate topping please share .. God Bless

OOOOh my gosh. I was scared that I'd do something wrong and the custard/crust thing wouldn't happen for me, but you kinda can't go wrong here! I love how you just throw everything in blender, and amazingness comes out of the oven.

I tried this one last night. I can't say I am a fan of the custard-like top layer. it's to egg-y. Other than that, yes, it was very moist and very sweet. I will try modifying this to get it what I want it to be for me.

Just made this and ate a piece, still warm as we speak. So yummy and simple to make! anything that can be done in one bowl (blender) is a winner. My 2 year old and 5 year old are gobbling it up. I'm going to have to hide this so I don't keep eating it. I used almond milk and didn't have real butter so it lowered the pp+ to 3, but i changed the serving size to 16 and now I get a bigger piece. I already can't wait to have some for breakfast tomorrow!!!! Thanks for another great recipe :)

I made this last night with your turkey three bean chili in the slow cooker and they both came out great! The cake is sweet but it went really well with the chili. My boyfriend loved it too....and he is from the south so he knows good chili and cornbread!

I was craving cornbread today and have this in the oven. Funny that Gleyce mentioned coconut one comment up. I was thinking of using coconut sugar for the first time, but wasn't sure about the taste (I know sugar is different than shredded). I have no idea how it will turn out, because I used almond milk, wheat flower, honey instead of sugar, egg whites, and added ground flaxseed. I'm road trippin' this coming week and wanted to leave my husband something to go with your chicken taco chili!

Really great recipe! I made this for my husband who is Brasileiro so he can have a healthy and filling snack while working long hours. He has some food sensitivities so I made the following substitutions: soy milk instead of milk, organic earth balance spread rather than butter, and a pinch of sea salt rather than parmesan cheese. Also, I had farinha, which is yucca or mandioca flour in the cupboard and used it in place of the corn meal as it has the same consistency and is typical in brazilian baking and is also gluten free. It came out sooooo yummy, kind of gooey in the middle slightly crispy on the top and edges. This is definitely going to be a keeper! Hopefully there will be some left for my husband to take to work ; )

I put this recipe into MyFitnessPal.com and for 21 servings, it's 317 calories. Also, when I made this - fantastic, by the way - my 2x3" pieces turned out to only be 16 servings. I made this in a 13 x 9 x 2 pan as stated in recipe.